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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Minnie Lahongrais

Guest Post and Excerpt by Minnie Lahongrais

DETECTIVE MASON JONES INVESTIGATES A GRUESOME MURDER

A previous excerpt of “Divergent Lives” (see here), centered around three siblings who encounter a male corpse while playing hide ‘n’ seek in an abandoned building in Brooklyn, New York. Det. Mason Jones has been called to the scene. He is deeply disturbed that young children were the unfortunate ones to find this body. The new excerpt below is from his perspective.

EXCERPT

Jones rubbed his baldhead. It was going to be a long night. It appeared that his make-up session with his wife would have to wait.

He nodded and turned to scan the crime scene once again. He watched the fingerprint specialists, crime scene unit experts, and medical technicians as they worked. It seemed he always did that while he pulled off his gloves. The ripping sound they made always impacted him and what he saw. It made grisly scenes like this one feel real to him. It was hard for him to believe otherwise; that something like this could happen to another human being.

He turned again toward the patrolman and said:

“Cover him up. I’m going to go see what I can get from the kids. If you need me, I will be home in about an hour. Call me there.”

Frowning, the detective stepped out onto the street and walked over to where the ambulances were parked. He spent some time with each of the children separately. They all had different perspectives leading up to the discovery, but for each of those kids, the story ended the same way: dead body. Now, there was nothing more he could do but wait for the lab reports to come back. Letting out a deep sigh, the detective got in his car and headed home. He hoped he could still make it there before his wife went to bed.

In all his years of service to the NYPD, Detective Mason Jones had seen a lot of things but this, by far, was one of the most disturbing scenes he’d ever witnessed. He felt badly for those kids. This was the kind of thing bogeymen were made of. For that reason alone, he swore he would find out who did this no matter how long it took.***

The next morning, Mason glanced down at his notes and crime scene photos. He shuddered, sighed deeply and took a sip of coffee. As the hot liquid’s energizing heat spread in his throat and slid down into his chest, it hit him. He was dog-tired. He had hardly slept the night before. He was so worried about those poor children; he’d spent half the night wondering if they were able to get any sleep themselves. He had already decided to check in on them later, hopeful they might remember something else.

“Damn,” he thought. “That’s a double edged sword.”

No matter. It had to be done. If they did remember something else, the memories would feed their nightmares; if they hadn’t, the memories would feed his.

Obviously, his feelings about this case clouded his vision, his logic. He had begun to review the evidence again, when his old partner, Sachs approached him.

“Hey Mase!” Sachs’ familiar use of Mason’s name reminded him of years gone by when they patrolled together.

“Hey Danny!” Mason rose to give his old partner a man hug.

“I heard you caught that body those kids found in the abandoned building yesterday. I don’t envy you my brother! What’s the deal with that?”

Sachs took a seat on the edge of Mason’s desk.

“Man, those kids were just playing “Hide’n’Seek” when they found this body and now they’ll probably have nightmares the rest of their lives! In fact, I’m going to go check on them a little bit later.”

“That’s rough man! What are the deets?”

“Vic is a white male; possibly late 30s early 40s; approximately 5”10” and in advanced decomposition. Thank the heat wave for that. He was naked, there was no ID found and he had no distinguishing marks except for the wounds found on the body. Early tox screen indicates BAC at .09%. TOD, evidence of sexual assault and COD determinations are pending autopsy results and it could be up to 72 hours before I get them, but I think asphyxiation was the cause of death.

“It could’ve been a robbery gone wrong or a drug deal gone wrong. And it could’ve been a crime of passion. I haven’t got a clue right now.”

Sachs nodded in sympathy giving Mason permission to continue.

“The thing is we got a tip on the hotline overnight. An RV was spotted pulling up near the location – vehicle lights out. Perp was described as small framed and after parking was seen dragging what appeared to be a body wrapped in plastic out of the RV and taking it inside. That’s all I have right now.”

“Hmm…” was Sach’s response; his eyebrows knitted.

“Could it have been love gone wrong?” continued Mason.

“Maybe. This person was described as ‘small framed’. It couldn’t have been a woman since the victim was almost 6 feet tall. Could it have been a small-framed angry husband? Maybe.”

“Look Mase. You’re a fine detective. Sounds like you’ve considered every possible angle. You got this bro!” Sachs patted his old partner on the back.

“I’m not so sure,” Mason responded.

“Something’s off about this case. None of it feels right to me.”

Book Description:

Psych Thriller Adds Deviant Twists to Sociopath Theme

RJ and Adina enter the world as fraternal twins, one raised by old-world, controlling immigrants in El Barrio, the other sold into a religious home filled with lies and scorn. Both are sociopaths.

Turns out, RJ’s got a secret that enrages him with the flip of a switch. Adina uses her sexual power to dominate every man in her life. They are on a mysterious trajectory to cross paths in New York City, where the end of their lives culminates in an apex of horror and carnage.

Native New Yorker, Minnie Lahongrais unwittingly kick-started her second career when she began writing an urban fantasy tale intended to help her cope with the death of her father. November of that year, she set that story aside to immerse herself in the annual madness of NaNoWriMo, meeting the challenge head on. Her first novel, “Sinner’s Ride” was published Spring of 2011. That summer, she found herself obsessed with the story idea for “Divergent Lives.”

Next on her agenda is the urban fantasy she began at the outset of her journey. She now plans to write that story as a trilogy.

Ms. Lahongrais currently lives in New York City. She finds time to write every day and spends her free time with her family.